4/16/2008 07:31:00 pm -
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DWNP Archive

Posted By John Bowman

The BBC's commercial arm won a High Court battle today concerning a book about the Daleks.

Publisher JHP, which brought out four Dalek-related books in the 1960s that had input from Dalek creator Terry Nation, claimed that BBC Worldwide's The Dalek Survival Guide, which was published in 2002, had infringed its copyright by using material from one of the books.

But according to a report on BBC News, Mr Justice Norris said that although JHP had the licence to bring out the original books - three annuals plus The Dalek Pocketbook and Space-Travellers' Guide - it did not own the copyright.

In 2001, both sides had started working together on a new venture involving the original books plus fresh material, but it foundered after JHP disliked BBC Worldwide's plans.

JHP had claimed that the subsequent Dalek Survival Guide copied The Dalek Pocketbook and Space-Travellers' Guide material. However, the judge ruled that no substantial copying had taken place, and said it was "inherently improbable" that Nation, who died in 1997, would have assigned copyright to JHP.